“I’d like to call her there, at work, if that would be possible.”
“That’s not possible, I’m afraid. They don’t like her to take personal calls at work. Could I give her a message?”
“What I was hoping to do was ask her to have dinner with me.”
“When?”
/> “I thought perhaps tonight, if she didn’t have previous plans.”
“In Philadelphia?” she asked incredulously.
“No. Not in Philadelphia. Here. Harrisburg.”
“You’re in Harrisburg?”
“Yes, ma’am. On business.”
“I really thought for a minute that you wanted to have dinner tonight with Susan in Philadelphia.”
“No, ma’am. I’m here. And I thought she might be willing to have dinner with me.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Mrs. Reynolds said, and there was a long pause. “You come here and you can have dinner with Susan’s daddy and me. And, of course, Susan.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Matt said.
“Not at all,” she said. “And I want to get a look at you, and give you a piece of my mind. You will come to supper, and that’s that.”
“In that case, thank you.”
“You may change your mind about that after Susan’s daddy lets you know what he thinks about you keeping Susan out all night.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“We eat at seven-thirty sharp when we’re at home. Is that convenient?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you know where we are?”
“No, ma’am. Just that you’re in Camp Hill.”
“I’ll give you directions. They’re not as complicated as they sound. Have you a pencil?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
THIRTEEN
Matt was in the shower when the telephone rang, and walked, dripping, to the telephone, wondering both who was calling him and why he had bothered to wrap a towel around his waist when he was alone in the suite.
“Hello?”
“It took you long enough to answer the phone,” Peter Wohl said.
“There’s no phone in the shower,” Matt said.
“Denny Coughlin suggested I call you,” Wohl began. “Actually, he suggested I talk to you when you checked in. According to Weisbach, you haven’t found time in your busy schedule to do that.”
“I checked in with Jason Washington the minute I got to the hotel. What’s up? Some—”